Fan mountains
Fan mountains
This year we wanted to check the entrances to the Fans through Dushanbe. It turned out that one-way Tajik airline tickets from Moscow for our two Lithuanian participants cost $ 140 more than for CIS residents. Therefore, I had to go the old route Samarkand - Pejikent - Varzob. Late in the evening, we arrived at the former Varzob climbing camp.
Now there are only houses and a supply house, but you can spend the night, and it’s very cheap. There is no light for a long time. The manager said that they plan to make a recreation center here. Somehow this year everything turned out both good and bad at the same time: almost everyone had perfect weather (especially on the first part of the route) and constant health problems (mainly gastrointestinal). We go, suffering from incomprehensible diseases and gradually losing (sending down) people. From the very beginning, Volodya Privalov and I suffered from the stomach more than others. Volodya was even forced to leave the route.
In turn, but briefly “knocked out” Volodya Leonenko and David Lehtman, and in the end, Vlad Kuzmin was also knocked down. On the first part of the journey, I still managed to burn my eyes and catch a cold. But all this did not prevent us from going along the route, practically without deviating from the schedule for a single day. The weather turned bad on the new moon when they came to Iskanderkul. We thought that at the camp site of the same name, it was completely desolate. But no - life is in full swing; the lake is quite warm, and people come here from Dushanbe for the weekend. The prices here are ridiculous: an overnight stay is $ 2-3, a bath (there are two of them). There are two bars where you can order food.
Well, for those who wish - billiards, tennis, etc. We rested here, treated (we ate most of our medical supplies) and waited for Muscovite Vlad Kuzmin. He flew to us through Dushanbe, and at the same time brought our first abandonment. This is not to say that during the day they completely bounced back, but left Iskanderkul according to the schedule. Although in heavy rain. And in the rain passed the canyon of the Serima River - another obstacle! Local residents said that about 10 years ago a mountain collapsed there, and since then they have not walked through the canyon.
They advised to go around it through the village of Norvat, which is 8 km below. But we decided to go the declared option, although we understood that the first ascent was actually ahead. The scree in the canyon gradually turns into rocks, and soon we begin to hang ropes. Rain intensifies, then stops. Climbing here is very funny: in some places the cliffs are sheer, insurance is only through trees and ledges, on the sidelines of the cliffs muddy mud is ankle-deep. In a few hours we are all in the mud: clothes, backpacks, and ropes. Dirt climbing does not simplify.
By the end of the fifth rope, on a slight flattening on the scree, they decided to have lunch, the rain stopped for a while. Then three more ropes, a steep scree with rock outcrops ... So we continue to climb to an altitude of 3100 m. There was a moment when I already thought that we would catch a cold overnight without water. Of course, this is good for Vlad - the acclimatization process will go faster, but why should this be for others? Finally, from the saddle in the buttress of the peak Martyrs (no, it's not for nothing that it is called!
And the one just below - Golgotha) manages to start the traverse to the left and, after a couple of buttresses, go into a wide grassy-talus corridor overgrown with forest. For 40 minutes we go down to the river. We managed to do it before dark. Then we crossed two more passes: Norvat (1A) and Dinosaur (1B). As% it was through force, for me, anyway. In the morning we measure the temperature - at Privalov and mine at 38 °. The rest over 37 °. Happy life! We sit at an altitude of almost 4000 m, ahead of the rise and all the most difficult areas.
Volodya decides to go down. The second Volodya escorts him to the trail and returns for dinner. Everyone else is just not able to walk. I can only lie. So it turned out a forced day, and in great weather. And tomorrow you need to go further. I ate more antibiotics and other pills for this trip than in the last ten years. It helped a little. The next morning, when we were left with the four, we climb to the Imat pass (according to classifier 3A, but more like normal 3B).
We spend the night at 4200 m, slightly above the saddle. My temperature is 37.6 °, tolerant. This is not a cold, something else. In the morning, the temperature is normal for everyone. We get down, have lunch already on the glacier. Here I finally calculate one of the causes of my troubles: meat. I don’t eat it anymore, and from the next day my health improves. Now we are waiting for the eastern wall of the Great Hansa with a vertical drop of 1400-1800 m. It is very impressive. The first time I saw this wall was in 1998, at the same time the first version of the route to the summit was outlined.
And in 2000, we again found ourselves under the wall, but by this moment a lot of things had already passed, we cut most of one rope into the trigger loops, and we did not dare to climb such a wall with the last one. But they finally determined the option of a possible ascent, and now there is no need to scout something and choose a path, you just need to climb our ridge (the route was called: "The Great Hansa along the eastern ridge"). And here we are at the site under this rib, on which we rested in 2000 when we descended from the Fanskaya Skazka pass (3A). This time we have three main ropes plus one auxiliary.
In addition, the entire rocky arsenal: hammers, hooks, bookmarks, hookhooks, ladders and rock shoes, without which it would be uncomfortable here. The lower part of the rib is rocky, there is no water. Sites of difficult climbing come across on the second rope. Both hooks and bookmarks are involved. Our first ropes are already hanging, and in the early morning we begin to climb. Our "caterpillar" (the group on the "railing") stretches along the wall, the ropes crawl (transmitted) from the bottom up. Fifth, sixth ... In the middle of the ninth we have lunch. Behind is already a complex overhanging section and a 70% meter wall above it, sections with pulling backpacks on a rope.
We climb further. It is snowing. 12th, 13th ... Snowfall is getting stronger. We are looking for a place for a bivouac. Here is a talus shelf, degrees 30, but you can level the area under the tent. This is the end of the 14% rope and our first overnight stay on the wall. We dig a pad and set up a tent. Quietly rustling snow, nothing is visible. Backpacks are hiding under the snow, a rope hung for tomorrow, a tent ... The rocks are covered with snow and icy. How familiar it all is! We pass the rope last night. The sun is already shining, warming the rocks, we went out later so that the snow and ice would melt. And the next rope turned out to be the most difficult to climb: we spent several hours on it.
Naturally, the backpacks had to be pulled out. Yes, and the first was hard to climb in boots (rocky shoes on icy rocks can not be worn). And again the "caterpillar" creeps up. Sections of snow and ice begin. At the end of the 24th rope we again organize a bivouac. This time on a snow ridge. Here we regretted that we did not take a shovel with us: with ice axes, we made the tent site for almost three hours. We hung up a couple more ropes. Ice, rocks. There is a lot of work ahead, but we are already close to the top. In the morning, a couple more ropes along the rocks, and then only ice and snow.
Again an endless chain of ropes. It is easier here, in some places one could go in bundles, but sections with cornices and cracks force the chain of railings to continue. It’s faster to go through the snow and ice, we’re already under the top tower, which we go around on the right, and by the end of the 18% rope today we reach the top ridge. 42 ropes and three days of work behind. It's already six in the evening, we are looking for a convenient place to sleep. This is located above the rock faults, you do not even need to level it. And that would be a problem: under 10% of a centimeter layer of snow - hard ice. Morning. Very cold.
In addition, after yesterday’s journey through the snow, the legs are not completely dry, and we are cold, despite the late exit (at 10 o’clock). Height 5200 m. In 20 minutes we rise to the top. Then we quickly run to the backpacks and with two bundles we begin the descent along the only route (2B) that was previously passed to the top of the Great Hansa. The saddle of the Hansa Saddle is 900 meters in height. The descent took a little more than an hour and a half. On the Saddle, the Hansa stopped to rest, dry, and dine. Time is already running out for us, so today we still have to go through a bunch of passes (including West Gusev% Mukhina, 2B). By six in the evening we reached the Small Hansa glacier, under our next ascent.
So, the new route has been completed. According to the climbing classification, I think this is 5A ct, according to the tourist classification - 3B * traverse. Then, having climbed the southern buttress of Peikhamber peak, another new pass Zamok (3B) was passed. On its saddle we spent the night and in the morning ascended to the top of the Castle. And here we are at Alaudinsky Lakes, under the “wing” of a mountain climber R. Arefyeva from Moscow, a representative of the Moscow travel agency “Vertical”. There are three residential houses, inside there are all amenities. True, a hot shower only in the evenings when the diesel is on. The base is an excellent dining room and wonderful people.
We learn from Rufina Grigoryevna that you can’t drink raw water in the area. We last drank it the night before. The whole next day - a day, eat up in the dining room. And in the evening Vlad fell. There is no temperature, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. We decided that he simply glut oneself and everything will pass under the backpack. We rest another day, then we leave. Vlad is no better. They planned to climb 4500 m in the evening at the beginning of the ascent to the Chimtarg pass, 1B (they were going to traverse the summits of the Chimtarg - Mirali - Maria - Saryshakh further, all together would have turned out 4B-5A according to the mountain climbing classification), but they only reached 4000 m.
Vlad has shortness of breath, cannot go up. In the early morning, nothing has changed. We understand that Vlad has some kind of infection, we begin to feed him pills, which are almost gone in the medicine cabinet. Counting options. After such dehydration, the body needs to recover a couple of days. Then there is too little time left to finish the route, even as a fallback, through three passes. The only solution: go down. And go home. We did not go through the last “troika B” - there will be a reason to return.
And the team’s mood was kind of crazy, I think everything would have passed. But as soon as we moved downstairs, it was worth relaxing - our strength ran out, I began to feel my knees and other sores. The main linear part of the route we went through completely. Everything that was planned. And that's great! In conclusion, I want to say that you can go to Fans, and from any side: both through Uzbekistan and through Tajikistan (Dushanbe or Khujand). We used the services of the company Vertical to check in and out, and this was not the first time.
If you value your time, contact this company (coordinates below). Moreover, if finances allow you to live in houses on Alaudinsky lakes, come there necessarily. The more we are there, the greater the chance of a base surviving. Now she is the only one in Fans who has retained a sports orientation. Every year there are held intramural CIS mountaineering championships (rock class). And there are places for walking in the area for both tourists and climbers.
In this difficult campaign, 6 k.s. in the Fansky Mountains, in 20 working days (plus 5 days), a 142 km route was passed through 13 passes (four of them were 3A — 3B * ct), 4 ascents to the peaks were made along routes from 2A to 5A ct . 4265 m of “railings” (most of them on the rocks) were carried out, more than 150 intermediate points of insurance and stations on rocky hooks or bookmarks (stoppers, friends), more than 50 ice drills, more than 40 fishing points in the snow were used.
During the hike, tourists made 5 (!) First ascents, including the Hansa shoulder (3B * ct, 5306 m), passing the almost sheer eastern wall of the mountain and traverse the Great Hansa peak (5306 m, in the upper photo), the second the height of the peak of the Fan Mountains. The campaign was announced for the Russian Championship in Sport Tourism, and the first ascent to the Great Hansa Peak for the CIS Mountain Climbing Championship (such a combination is unusual in itself).
This year we wanted to check the entrances to the Fans through Dushanbe. It turned out that one-way Tajik airline tickets from Moscow for our two Lithuanian participants cost $ 140 more than for CIS residents. Therefore, I had to go the old route Samarkand - Pejikent - Varzob. Late in the evening, we arrived at the former Varzob climbing camp.
Now there are only houses and a supply house, but you can spend the night, and it’s very cheap. There is no light for a long time. The manager said that they plan to make a recreation center here. Somehow this year everything turned out both good and bad at the same time: almost everyone had perfect weather (especially on the first part of the route) and constant health problems (mainly gastrointestinal). We go, suffering from incomprehensible diseases and gradually losing (sending down) people. From the very beginning, Volodya Privalov and I suffered from the stomach more than others. Volodya was even forced to leave the route.
In turn, but briefly “knocked out” Volodya Leonenko and David Lehtman, and in the end, Vlad Kuzmin was also knocked down. On the first part of the journey, I still managed to burn my eyes and catch a cold. But all this did not prevent us from going along the route, practically without deviating from the schedule for a single day. The weather turned bad on the new moon when they came to Iskanderkul. We thought that at the camp site of the same name, it was completely desolate. But no - life is in full swing; the lake is quite warm, and people come here from Dushanbe for the weekend. The prices here are ridiculous: an overnight stay is $ 2-3, a bath (there are two of them). There are two bars where you can order food.
Well, for those who wish - billiards, tennis, etc. We rested here, treated (we ate most of our medical supplies) and waited for Muscovite Vlad Kuzmin. He flew to us through Dushanbe, and at the same time brought our first abandonment. This is not to say that during the day they completely bounced back, but left Iskanderkul according to the schedule. Although in heavy rain. And in the rain passed the canyon of the Serima River - another obstacle! Local residents said that about 10 years ago a mountain collapsed there, and since then they have not walked through the canyon.
They advised to go around it through the village of Norvat, which is 8 km below. But we decided to go the declared option, although we understood that the first ascent was actually ahead. The scree in the canyon gradually turns into rocks, and soon we begin to hang ropes. Rain intensifies, then stops. Climbing here is very funny: in some places the cliffs are sheer, insurance is only through trees and ledges, on the sidelines of the cliffs muddy mud is ankle-deep. In a few hours we are all in the mud: clothes, backpacks, and ropes. Dirt climbing does not simplify.
By the end of the fifth rope, on a slight flattening on the scree, they decided to have lunch, the rain stopped for a while. Then three more ropes, a steep scree with rock outcrops ... So we continue to climb to an altitude of 3100 m. There was a moment when I already thought that we would catch a cold overnight without water. Of course, this is good for Vlad - the acclimatization process will go faster, but why should this be for others? Finally, from the saddle in the buttress of the peak Martyrs (no, it's not for nothing that it is called!
And the one just below - Golgotha) manages to start the traverse to the left and, after a couple of buttresses, go into a wide grassy-talus corridor overgrown with forest. For 40 minutes we go down to the river. We managed to do it before dark. Then we crossed two more passes: Norvat (1A) and Dinosaur (1B). As% it was through force, for me, anyway. In the morning we measure the temperature - at Privalov and mine at 38 °. The rest over 37 °. Happy life! We sit at an altitude of almost 4000 m, ahead of the rise and all the most difficult areas.
Volodya decides to go down. The second Volodya escorts him to the trail and returns for dinner. Everyone else is just not able to walk. I can only lie. So it turned out a forced day, and in great weather. And tomorrow you need to go further. I ate more antibiotics and other pills for this trip than in the last ten years. It helped a little. The next morning, when we were left with the four, we climb to the Imat pass (according to classifier 3A, but more like normal 3B).
We spend the night at 4200 m, slightly above the saddle. My temperature is 37.6 °, tolerant. This is not a cold, something else. In the morning, the temperature is normal for everyone. We get down, have lunch already on the glacier. Here I finally calculate one of the causes of my troubles: meat. I don’t eat it anymore, and from the next day my health improves. Now we are waiting for the eastern wall of the Great Hansa with a vertical drop of 1400-1800 m. It is very impressive. The first time I saw this wall was in 1998, at the same time the first version of the route to the summit was outlined.
And in 2000, we again found ourselves under the wall, but by this moment a lot of things had already passed, we cut most of one rope into the trigger loops, and we did not dare to climb such a wall with the last one. But they finally determined the option of a possible ascent, and now there is no need to scout something and choose a path, you just need to climb our ridge (the route was called: "The Great Hansa along the eastern ridge"). And here we are at the site under this rib, on which we rested in 2000 when we descended from the Fanskaya Skazka pass (3A). This time we have three main ropes plus one auxiliary.
In addition, the entire rocky arsenal: hammers, hooks, bookmarks, hookhooks, ladders and rock shoes, without which it would be uncomfortable here. The lower part of the rib is rocky, there is no water. Sites of difficult climbing come across on the second rope. Both hooks and bookmarks are involved. Our first ropes are already hanging, and in the early morning we begin to climb. Our "caterpillar" (the group on the "railing") stretches along the wall, the ropes crawl (transmitted) from the bottom up. Fifth, sixth ... In the middle of the ninth we have lunch. Behind is already a complex overhanging section and a 70% meter wall above it, sections with pulling backpacks on a rope.
We climb further. It is snowing. 12th, 13th ... Snowfall is getting stronger. We are looking for a place for a bivouac. Here is a talus shelf, degrees 30, but you can level the area under the tent. This is the end of the 14% rope and our first overnight stay on the wall. We dig a pad and set up a tent. Quietly rustling snow, nothing is visible. Backpacks are hiding under the snow, a rope hung for tomorrow, a tent ... The rocks are covered with snow and icy. How familiar it all is! We pass the rope last night. The sun is already shining, warming the rocks, we went out later so that the snow and ice would melt. And the next rope turned out to be the most difficult to climb: we spent several hours on it.
Naturally, the backpacks had to be pulled out. Yes, and the first was hard to climb in boots (rocky shoes on icy rocks can not be worn). And again the "caterpillar" creeps up. Sections of snow and ice begin. At the end of the 24th rope we again organize a bivouac. This time on a snow ridge. Here we regretted that we did not take a shovel with us: with ice axes, we made the tent site for almost three hours. We hung up a couple more ropes. Ice, rocks. There is a lot of work ahead, but we are already close to the top. In the morning, a couple more ropes along the rocks, and then only ice and snow.
Again an endless chain of ropes. It is easier here, in some places one could go in bundles, but sections with cornices and cracks force the chain of railings to continue. It’s faster to go through the snow and ice, we’re already under the top tower, which we go around on the right, and by the end of the 18% rope today we reach the top ridge. 42 ropes and three days of work behind. It's already six in the evening, we are looking for a convenient place to sleep. This is located above the rock faults, you do not even need to level it. And that would be a problem: under 10% of a centimeter layer of snow - hard ice. Morning. Very cold.
In addition, after yesterday’s journey through the snow, the legs are not completely dry, and we are cold, despite the late exit (at 10 o’clock). Height 5200 m. In 20 minutes we rise to the top. Then we quickly run to the backpacks and with two bundles we begin the descent along the only route (2B) that was previously passed to the top of the Great Hansa. The saddle of the Hansa Saddle is 900 meters in height. The descent took a little more than an hour and a half. On the Saddle, the Hansa stopped to rest, dry, and dine. Time is already running out for us, so today we still have to go through a bunch of passes (including West Gusev% Mukhina, 2B). By six in the evening we reached the Small Hansa glacier, under our next ascent.
So, the new route has been completed. According to the climbing classification, I think this is 5A ct, according to the tourist classification - 3B * traverse. Then, having climbed the southern buttress of Peikhamber peak, another new pass Zamok (3B) was passed. On its saddle we spent the night and in the morning ascended to the top of the Castle. And here we are at Alaudinsky Lakes, under the “wing” of a mountain climber R. Arefyeva from Moscow, a representative of the Moscow travel agency “Vertical”. There are three residential houses, inside there are all amenities. True, a hot shower only in the evenings when the diesel is on. The base is an excellent dining room and wonderful people.
We learn from Rufina Grigoryevna that you can’t drink raw water in the area. We last drank it the night before. The whole next day - a day, eat up in the dining room. And in the evening Vlad fell. There is no temperature, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. We decided that he simply glut oneself and everything will pass under the backpack. We rest another day, then we leave. Vlad is no better. They planned to climb 4500 m in the evening at the beginning of the ascent to the Chimtarg pass, 1B (they were going to traverse the summits of the Chimtarg - Mirali - Maria - Saryshakh further, all together would have turned out 4B-5A according to the mountain climbing classification), but they only reached 4000 m.
Vlad has shortness of breath, cannot go up. In the early morning, nothing has changed. We understand that Vlad has some kind of infection, we begin to feed him pills, which are almost gone in the medicine cabinet. Counting options. After such dehydration, the body needs to recover a couple of days. Then there is too little time left to finish the route, even as a fallback, through three passes. The only solution: go down. And go home. We did not go through the last “troika B” - there will be a reason to return.
And the team’s mood was kind of crazy, I think everything would have passed. But as soon as we moved downstairs, it was worth relaxing - our strength ran out, I began to feel my knees and other sores. The main linear part of the route we went through completely. Everything that was planned. And that's great! In conclusion, I want to say that you can go to Fans, and from any side: both through Uzbekistan and through Tajikistan (Dushanbe or Khujand). We used the services of the company Vertical to check in and out, and this was not the first time.
If you value your time, contact this company (coordinates below). Moreover, if finances allow you to live in houses on Alaudinsky lakes, come there necessarily. The more we are there, the greater the chance of a base surviving. Now she is the only one in Fans who has retained a sports orientation. Every year there are held intramural CIS mountaineering championships (rock class). And there are places for walking in the area for both tourists and climbers.
In this difficult campaign, 6 k.s. in the Fansky Mountains, in 20 working days (plus 5 days), a 142 km route was passed through 13 passes (four of them were 3A — 3B * ct), 4 ascents to the peaks were made along routes from 2A to 5A ct . 4265 m of “railings” (most of them on the rocks) were carried out, more than 150 intermediate points of insurance and stations on rocky hooks or bookmarks (stoppers, friends), more than 50 ice drills, more than 40 fishing points in the snow were used.
During the hike, tourists made 5 (!) First ascents, including the Hansa shoulder (3B * ct, 5306 m), passing the almost sheer eastern wall of the mountain and traverse the Great Hansa peak (5306 m, in the upper photo), the second the height of the peak of the Fan Mountains. The campaign was announced for the Russian Championship in Sport Tourism, and the first ascent to the Great Hansa Peak for the CIS Mountain Climbing Championship (such a combination is unusual in itself).
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